One of my NYC friends was in Mumbai with her family in tow (husband, kids, father, cousins) and one of the atmospheric / iconic places I had suggested to her as a stop was the Sea Lounge.
The plan had been to spend the morning at the Elephanta caves, disembark at Gateway of India, and cross the street to the Taj for lunch / tea depending on the time.
Turned out the tea starts at 2 not 3, so there was high excitement about combining lunch and afternoon tea into a single meal. Especially after the Elephanta plan got rained out and converted into a city tour in the intermittently pouring rain.
We decided we did not need champagne at 2pm. But my friend’s dad, who had opted out of the tour and spent the morning at the hotel, was ready for some action and demanded champagne 
I found the setup a bit confusing. Because we arrived right at the start, they weren’t ready for table service yet. So we went to the buffet and helped ourselves there (we were starving — it was late for lunch).
The buffet selection was eclectic: chicken sandwiches, veggie sandwiches, tuna crostini, asparagus crostini, ham rolls, croissants with duck salad, croissants with avocado salad, bite-sized lamb kebabs, fish nuggets, chicken tikka in tartlets, pizza, asparagus vol au vents, Pav bhaji in kulcha pockets, veggie skewers, mexican bean roll-ups, shrimp roll-ups, akuri toasted sandwiches, a wide assortment of pastries and indian sweets, and a selection of mocktails (lychee, guava, and vanilla).
They didn’t give us a sense of what would be delivered to the table other than chaat, so we had mostly finished eating before the tiered trays started showing up at the table.
Well, those trays had completely different items than the buffet. There were finger sandwiches (chicken & vegetarian), bite-sized tartes d’alsace, savory puff pastry patties, berry madeleines, chocolate tarts, lemon meringue tarts, and more.
A while later, chaat arrived from the chaat counter — pani puri, dahi batata puri, and sev puri.
Then there was a long lull so we assumed the service was done.
People switched to dessert, which was PLENTUFUL. There was a selection of individually portioned pastries and indian sweets, and then a long table of cakes from from simple to elaborate that you could cut into yourself.
In all this, they never actually asked us about TEA. When another unexpected tiered tray of indian savories and sweets showed up, it prompted me to ask for the missing tea to accompany them.
The sight of more food had elicited a groan at the table — everyone figured the food was done. But the arrival of tea spurred us on to sample a bit of the new selection — bhajiya, seekh kabab, vegetarian kababs (3 kinds — hariyali, dahi, and corn), khandvi, amiri khaman, and a set of indian desserts (malpua, moong dal halwa, 3 kinds of mithai, and ghujiya).
Now we were well and truly DONE.
NOPE. A full 2 hours after we had been seated, a plate of scones with clotted clean and fig jam appeared. And bowls of bhel from the chaat counter.
One person tried the scones. One person wanted some bhel. The rest looked on.
Our conclusion was that it was an afternoon of excess, but unfortunately and wastefully disorganized.
The food was average. The ambience is always 
.
I have lost practice at the art of the Indian buffet.
